A Home with Purpose

We’ve always had a simple prayer at Hunter Bible Church; that Jesus would use weak people like us to save thousands of lost souls in Newcastle.

By God's grace over the years we've seen people learn about Jesus and grow in him. We’ve seen Jesus save people and transform their lives. And we’re blown away that now about 1000 people call HBC their church.

But there are still over 250,000 people in Newcastle facing hell without Jesus. So while our prayer as a church hasn’t changed, we believe now is the time to get a building that HBC can call people home...

A home to welcome the lost,a home to grow the saved,a home for generations,a home with purpose.

The Plan

Pray - Give - Search - Buy - Rejoice

The Plan

Pray - Give - Search - Buy - Rejoice

It would be amazing if we were given land and a purpose-built facility ready to move into on Sunday… and God could do that! But that would also mean we’d miss out on learning to be more generous and more dependant on Him. We expect it will take a few phases over a few years to get a building...

Phase 1. Raising a deposit

Before we can start real negotiations for a property we need some money in the bank as a deposit. We have already started talking to lenders who are keen to help us once we have a deposit. Most lenders require at least a third of the total cost as a deposit. In the most basic terms, that means to buy a $3m property, we will need to raise $1m and get a $2m loan.

Phase 2. Buying (when we find the right place)

The Building Acquisition Committee has also already started looking for suitable properties in and around Newcastle that are visible, have loads of parking, and are within 20 mins drive of as many people as possible. Commercial property doesn’t come up very often in Newcastle so it could be months or years before we find the right place. So please pray about this.

Phase 3. Developing (Finances & Plans)

Once we’ve bought a building, there is a good chance we won’t be able to move in straight away. There might be existing tenants or construction work needed. We might still need to raise more money for renovations and furnishings. We hope we will also be able to earn rental income while the Building Acquisition Committee is working hard at developing any construction plans.

Phase 4. Renovating and Moving

When the time and finances are right, we will commence any building and renovations needed on the property. We really want a place that people feel is welcoming, clean, and a pleasure to be in. We will set a date when our public meetings will move there. Then by God’s grace we’ll have a Big Sunday to celebrate God’s kindness and pray that he’d use us (and the building) to reach the lost.

Allow more people to hear the gospel

Provide purpose-built facilities for teaching & loving people

Be visible, easy to find & easy to invite people along

Establish a platform for generations of gospel work

Grow our own faith & generosity toward God

The HBC Building Acquisition Committee

The Elders of the HBC Association have appointed a team of people to oversee and manage this plan for our church. This team operates for and under the direction of the Elders, with the support of the Finance Committee and other knowledgeable people and specialists as required to complete its work.

The HBC Pastoral Staff on the Committee are Greg Lee and Dave Moore who are responsible for setting and communicating the vision and purpose of the building.

Steve Elliott

Steve is married to Liza and they have three kids. They've been part of HBC for over 10 years and are part of our HBC:Newy am congregation. Steve has loads of experience in Project Management and currently works as the General Manager of Wire and Tube Manufacturing at OneSteel.

Shaun Hassall

Shaun is married to Lil and they have three kids and they are part of the HBC:LakeMac congregation. Shaun is the Chief Financial Officer at the Newcastle Permanent Building Society. Shaun's role on the Committee is to assess and project our financial requirements and risks.

Andrew Barnard

Andrew has been part of HBC for nearly 20 years and is part of our HBC:Newy am congregation. Andrew has over 10 years experience in the architectural industry and has been involved in a wide variety of building projects including corporate, educational and residential. Andrew is overseeing our site search and development plans.

Other Consultants

Kirsty TepperKirsty is part of HBC:LakeMac and is advising around council and planning issues.

Neil FosterNeil is part of HBC:Newy am and has helped with various legal issues, including finding other independent legal advice.

Donate or Pledge

Donate or Pledge

A special donation for a special purpose

Our hope is that everyone would come to Big Sunday and make their donation or financial commitment with their Donation Commitment Card on that day. However if you'd like to donate before the end of this financial year it may increase the amount you can give.

The Australian Tax Office has endorsed our building fund as a Tax Deductible Gift Recipient because most of the activities to be held in the building fall into their definition of religious education; Sunday Kids programs, the Life Series, the Connect Series, Women’s Growth Group, Big Idea nights, AllNations, etc. They all provide what the ATO considers regular systematic instruction. However, there are some aspects of the building that we can’t use tax-deductible gifts to pay for; furniture, landscaping, and things that are specifically designed for Sunday church services.

Therefore, while gifts can be made tax-deductible, unless you're intending to use the tax-deductibility to increase your generosity, please make a general "non-deductible" donation.

Donation Calculator for Tax-Deduction Purposes

If you are considering utilising the tax-deductibility of the building fund, this calculator can tell you a rough figure of how much you might get back on your tax-return. It can also calculate how you can maximise your donation due to tax-deductibility.

Please enter your details and select 'Calculate'. (No record is kept of the details you enter)

Please note this calculator (and the outcomes of the calculations you perform using it) do not, and are not intended to, constitute taxation or financial advice. The calculation may not be exact and does not take into account the medicare levy, budget debt levy, pensioner, senior, parent or other income tax offsets. You should seek professional advice before making material financial or taxation decisions.

DonateTax-Deductibly

Funds given to the tax-deductible account are limited to paying for land, classrooms, meeting rooms & multipurpose areas.

Bank Transfer (Same account)

Donation Description:To mark your gift for general use (NOT tax-deductible), please us the description:

"GenD [Name/ID is optional]"e.g. "GenD WithLove"

Or Donate by Credit Card

Donate now by CC (non-deductible)

CHOOSING A FIGURE

Here’s some suggestions to help you consider how to give generously…

Ask God to help you be generous. This might seem simple, but many find it a hard thing to pray. But don’t fear, God may answer in multiple ways; he might reduce your expenses, he might increase your income, he might show you a way to use the equity in your home, you might be able to sell something valuable. Pray and be creatively generous!

Involve your kids. If you have children, let them know about this and pray with them about a Home with Purpose. Talk about what you could sacrifice as a family; A holiday? A renovation? Could you do a garage sale and donate the profits to the building? Could you offer to match your children’s donation?

Ask your family. If you have Christian parents or grandparents, we think this might be something they would love to know about. If they’ve seen you grow while at HBC there’s a good chance they’d love to help your church buy a building. Can you give them a pack like this one? Could you invite them to Big Sunday too?

In the end the figure you donate is not as important as the heart that gives it. Generosity is measured at the heart not the hip pocket. So give in such a way that you can stand before God with a clear conscience and say, “God, I think this is a generous figure for me”.

Please bear in mind that the day-to-day running of HBC depends on people’s regular giving. If you choose to donate to the building fund it should be in addition to your normal church giving. Therefore, if HBC is your church and you haven’t started giving regularly yet, please start giving regularly first, and then give to the building fund second.

If you have any questions about the Donation Commitment Card, Tax-Deductibility, or how to donate please contact us and we’d love to help.

Big Questions

If your question isn't here, please ask it!

Big Questions

If your question isn't here, please ask it!

We believe in being transparent and open as we approach this endeavour. As we progress we'll add common questions and answers here. But please don't let this be the only place you go with questions, we'd much prefer you came and asked one of the Building Team or Pastoral Staff.

Q: Will a new building really help us make disciples?

Buildings themselves don’t make disciples. But buildings help us make disciples because they provide a place to gather people, love them, and teach them God’s word.

Over the years we’ve been able to get by in classrooms, community centres, schools and the Hub. But we’re convinced a home for HBC will help us love, reach out and teach people more effectively.Anecdotally, other churches (like ours) have found having a home helps build relationships with more people and they’ve seen the gospel grow through it.

Q: Couldn’t the money be spent on other things?

Over the years we’ve invested heavily in staff who teach the bible & grow teams to love more people. That’s allowed us to reach lots of people and grow to over 1000. But since there’s still 300,000 lost souls in Newcastle and Lake Mac, we believe that investing in a purpose built facility will help us take the gospel to more people. At one level, we’re not excited about buildings, but at another level, we’re really excited about what God might do through one.

Q: Who will see the donation commitment cards?

Just like normal church giving, only the Finance Committee will have access to manage donations and donation commitments.

Our Finance Committee are a team of godly Christians who have a particular gift of 'unemotional objectiveness'. We've selected people who don't get anxious dealing with money. They have been challenged about their personal giving and financial temptations. And they really don't care about the names and figures; they just want it all to balance at the end of the day.

These are the type of people who can play monopoly and still be friends afterwards.

Q: Can we really afford a building?

There’s no hiding the fact that a HBC building will cost a lot of money. By the end of the project it will probably cost more than $6m-$9m. But that’s not much when you consider the long-term impact this building will have under God.

Our hope is that the building will serve tens of thousands of people over the next 50 years. Can we afford it? Only with God’s help. Can we afford not to try? No. Preaching the gospel to the lost is too important.

Q: When are we likely to buy / move in?

This is a question that's hard to answer. The commercial property market in small and the type of sites we're looking at don't come up often. Over the past 8 years there have been only a few sites that would have been suitable.

So we're really at the mercy of the market, but also can trust the God is sovereign over all things and the right property will come up when he wants it to.

The other factor will be how much we've raised and how much we can borrow. Those figure will always affect what sites we can consider.

Q: What will it look like? Do we have any blueprints or designs?

We would love to be able to take everyone on a tour of the site and create a 3D virtual walk-through of our plans... but until we find the right property we simply can't be certain what it will look like.

However there are a few things we are certain about. We want it to be in a central, visible location. We want it to feel welcoming, safe and nice place to be in. We are looking for a place that will allow us to have ample parking, great kids' facilities, lots of break-out space, flexible areas for groups, lectures, seminars and fellowship. We imagine a venue with great acoustics, comfortable seating, and where people are constantly coming and going and growing.

Q: Why can donations be Tax Deductible?

The Australian Tax Office has endorsed our building fund as a Tax Deductible Gift Recipient because most of the activities to be held in the building falls into their definition of religious education; Sunday Kids programs, the Life Series, the Connect Series, Women’s Growth Group, Big Idea nights, AllNations, etc. They all provide what the ATO considers regular systematic instruction.

However, there are some aspects of the building that we can’t use tax-deductible gifts to pay for; furniture, landscaping, and things that are only used for church services. So, we do need some non-deductible donations to help cover the cost of these things. You can elect whether you want your donation to be tax-deductible on the Commitment Card.

Q: Can we afford the on-going costs of a building/loan?

We expect we'll need to borrow money to buy a property and fit it out. However, we won't borrow more than we can reasonably afford the repayments for. How? Well it really depends on the property we find.

The ideal situation is that we buy a large property and move the Hub into it and lease out a large part of it. That will mean we can use the money we currently spend on Hub rent and the property income to pay down our loan.

When the time is right, we'll move our Lambton church services into the property and save the money we're currently spending to rent there.

Q: What happens if we don't get enough money?

We really don't know how much money will be "enough" until we find a property that suits. But if we don't raise enough to buy a property in the next two years we might have to try and raise more money or reassess our project phases. But any money raised can only be used for gospel centred building projects.

More questions?

If you have more questions, we’d love to hear them. It’s good questions that help the Building Acquisition Committee ensure they have looked at everything. Please feel free to email us or come to one of the Q&A nights in August.

Hopes and Dreams

These are some of the hopes that our Pastors have for our church as they dream about having a building of our own.

Hopes and Dreams

These are some of the hopes that our Pastors have for our church as they dream about having a building of our own.